Where are people's manners?

Today I was in Intercam when I heard a man in a loud voice say to his wife that they should just close their account if this was the way they were to be treated. She was trying to calm him but he was having none of it and was getting verbally rough with the young lady at the front desk, who was trying her best to explain the situation to him. I couldn't help myself but I just can't stand "the ugly, entitled foreigner" syndrome and am tired of standing by any more...so I went over to see if I could help. It seems he had crossed out his endorsement on the back and re-wrote his name. I told him we are guests in this country (I'm not) and should behave accordingly....he then informed me he was a Permanente and had the same rights as Mexicans. Another lady (foreigner) in line told him that he did not, as he can't vote. I explained that one time that my signature did not match exactly and I had to go get another check and they are very careful in Mexico with signatures. He was settling down some and I finished my transaction and left but I was SOOO embarrassed and felt so bad for the young lady.

Thank you for stepping up, WillieRae. We all need to do that.

God bless you, Willie.
Thank you for doing the right thing ! 
LLiving

So I guess he thinks that being permanent gives him the right to be rude to someone who is just going by the rules of her company, I am sure that man is just rude wherever he lives..I feel sorry for the young lady and his wife...

Good for you. I was in AT&T yesterday and a woman (with a British accent) and her husband got upset about the timing of their new account. It was going to cost them two months they already paid for. Fair enough, but she immediately raised her voice and would not let the young woman clerk get a word in. I was going to intervene and explain that in Mexico nothing is gained by shouting, when the manager intervened. I apologized to the young lady.

Well, let´s be fair.  I am from the United States and have liived in Mexico for 16 years. I am a Mexican citizen  since 2014, and owner of a voting credential and Passport.   I live in Jaiisco and Chiapas in which both places I own residences.  Despite the fact that this fellow may have been rude in his behavior. his intolerance of inflexibility regarding banking decorum in Mexico was appropriate.  His re-endorsement of the check seems to have been entirely correct  legally speaking. Mexican bank clerks are insufficiently trained and often  act in ignorance which  is not their fault but maddenly inexcusable.  As a long-time Mexican Citizen, I object to your demeaning objections made in earnest by those with reasonable complaints expressed after confronting moronic, undertrained bank clerks.

I should point out that I was a commercial banker in San Frsncisco for some 40 years and was entirely customer oriented with a very sophisticated banking clientelle. I f I had had a bank Clerk acting in the manner of that desk jockey referenced above treating my clients or potential cliients in such a manner, I would have reprimanded that person and, if that person had repeated such conduct. he/she would have been scrubbing toilets thereafter and never have been on the customer-servce front line again.

Well, Bubba, I can't match your expertise, but I did work as a teller for two summers while in college. I knew that if someone changed something on a cheque they just had to initial it. Legal or not, that does not happen in Mexico. When I have to write a cheque to my rental agency, I bring my cheque book and have them write it out for my signature because they and I know that any minor error will void it.

Bubba...are you sure the banking regs and laws are the same the world over? The young woman was trying to explain, but he wouldn't let her SO who then was being rude?

Canada_Mike wrote:Well, Bubba, I can't match your expertise, but  I did work as a teller for two summers while in college. I knew that if someone changed something on a cheque they just had to initial it. Legal or not, that does not happen in Mexico. When I have to write a cheque to my rental agency, I bring my cheque book and have them write it out for my signature because they and I know that any minor error will void it.

Well said, CM. Dawg does not even write checks in Mexico. Forget even considering modifying or changing an endorsement and expect cash conversion I am always ecstatic when the ATM machines upon which I depend, return my ATM Card. I don´t ever count the money I get from the ATM because if I am shorted, with whom shall I institute confrontation? I believe I could personally fly to the moon before I could achieve recompense from a bank clerk for a shorted $200Pesos. Life is too short.

WillieRae wrote:Bubba...are you sure the banking regs and laws are the same the world over?  The young woman was trying to explain, but he wouldn't let her SO who then was being rude?

Well. WilieRae, I was a federal bank examiner out of San Francisco and then a bank commercial lender and bank branch manager for some 40 years in total and I am suited to say that banking laws in the United States and Mexico are not dissimilar. What the poster experienced and related upon here was not a result of the poster having run up against banking regulations but the ignorance of a bank Clerk treading wáter above his/her capacity. This is not an untypical phenomenon here in Mexico or in the United States and an even more difficult problem in more bureaucratic and less open totalitarian political entities and it is not surprising since the Clerk has nothing to lose by sustained incalcitrance and everything to lose by flexibility. I made a lot of money kissing the asses of moneyed clients as a banker in San Francisco´s Financial District during he 1980s and 90s but my tellers were a dime a dozen and were only nice to cliants because they feared me as the Wrath of God. That´s life.

Where the people who complained here went to complete a financial transaction exhibited an ignorance of how Banks function. If you don´t know and nurture a Bubba, you are toast.

So it was YOU!

Well, I certainly don't have your banking credentials but my personal exposure has been there are NO exceptions to making handwritten corrections to any legal document, whether at a bank or a notario's office...and I have these experiences in Mazatlan, Colima and here...it's just simply not allowed!

It hardly matters whether or not the banking laws are the same in both countries, or whether the teller was trained well enough. From the OP description of this man's behavior, the man was simply rude and acted inappropriately. One can have a disagreement with a teller and get resolution without being rude. He wouldn't even allow her to explain. I would have gone over and said something to him as well. There simply is no reason to act that way to an employee who, while possibly not sufficiently trained, was just trying to do her job, and politely from the way it sounds.

I agree with you, Gogo.

Over the years I've seen such rude and embarrassing behavior from us foreigners I can't remember them all, but a couple come to mind.

One day in Joco, a woman friend and I were walking on the sidewalk and approaching was a gaggle of 'the well-dressed' speaking loudly in thick Texas accents. Of course we had to step off the curb for them as they didn't even know we existed and as we did we were privy to the conversation the women were having at the top of their lungs about how they NEVER trust Mexicans especially their maids and had locks installed on their closets so they could lock all their clothes up before the maids came. It brought tears to my Mexican friend's eyes. Little did they know she spoke perfect English, being from California, in fact, she barely spoke Spanish.

But the worst I've seen was in line at Superlake. A tall, tanned, solar company t-shirt wearing woman in front of me reached into the till! I couldn't believe my eyes. I smacked her arm and she looked at me and, again in thick Texan, said "AH ONLY WAANT SOME CHAYNGE AYAND SHE WON'T GEEVE IT TO ME!" The cashier said (in Spanish) "I can't give you change!". The tanned one started yelling about what she wanted blah blah blah and I told her to leave and that we don't always get what we want, do we? I thought for a minute she was going to hit me, she was BIG and probably could have kicked my butt.
She's lucky she is not in Puente Grande.

My guess it will take some loud mouth getting his / her ass handed to them by a fed up local to curb the crappy attitudes of some of the angry / obnoxious people that seem to crop up and get ugly. Given current political tensions, I'd say things are ripe for people being told off or worse. Some of the people who behave like this won't get it, they either lack the necessary filters to control their anger, or they are too entitled and clueless to see the futility of public displays of aggression. I'm remembering the Sherpas vs. Everest climbers a few years back. Your money only means so much and then: snap.

Yes, Defarge, I look forward to that day.

I see and read about more and more "entitled" people here. As in "I have a right to live in Mexico"; no you don't. You are here at the pleasure of the Mexican govt. Who can rescind their pleasure at any time and send you packing. Or expecting the locals to speak English when it's our responsibility to learn to get along in Spanish. If you need change, go to the bank. Where is this "entitled" class of people coming from? Certainly not from the USA where I grew up.

Gamina wrote:Where is this "entitled" class of people coming from?  Certainly not from the USA where I grew up.

Would that be Point Roberts?

Gamina wrote:I see and read about more and more "entitled" people here.  As in "I have a right to live in Mexico"; no you don't.  You are here at the pleasure of the Mexican govt.  Who can rescind their pleasure at any time and send you packing.   Or expecting the locals to speak English when it's our responsibility to learn to get along in Spanish.  If you need change, go to the bank.  Where is this "entitled" class of people coming from?  Certainly not from the USA where I grew up.

Google the story about American spring breakers in Cancun chanting "build the wall!" Those jerks are too stupid to get the hypocrisy of their actions. Its only a matter of time before some loud mouth gringo gets their ass kicked. You can only piss on people so much before they snap.

Google the video of the Sherpas taking the boots to foreign climbers and pelting them with rocks. Eventually, no matter how much money you think offsets your arrogance and abuse, it catches up to you and bites you in the ass. Nations were either built on the anger of the average citizen or changed. History proves this to be true. Long before any expat ever stepped foot in Ajijic or Chapala, Mexicans lived and worked here. They may enjoy the revenues, but money does not buy dignity. People do wear out their welcome.

The "entitled" spring up everywhere. Plenty of "entitled" gringos to be seen. There are also "entitled" Mexicans who stride the streets with noses high in the air. (Most of us can't manage that without fear of falling on the cobblestones, can we? Sigh.)
Some folks' mammas just didn't teach them manners. Rich or poor mammas; no distinction. They grew up to be beetches or bullies and that's what we are seeing when the bad behavior kicks in. Doesn't matter if you were born with a gold or plastic spoon in your mouth. No excuses.

Dawg ran  bank branches in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz California  for many years in the 20th Century and I can attest that, if you think rude customers are  especially  characterized by foreigners whether in Mexico. the U.S., France or any of the myriad other countries in which I have lived, visited and banked, I can assure you that unpleasant clients anywhere in the world come in all stripes and comprise all nationalities and races.  The rudest customers I have encountered were residents of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania closely and compertitively followed by bank clients in Alexandria, Egyot.  The only people I have encountered that were ruder than those bank clients were the bank employees with whom  they had to negotiate business.   Bank clients in the U.S. and Mexico are damned lucky.  Try banking in Ethiopia.

Forget the "entitled" and all of that. Remember, almost all people have a limit to their patience and then they get frustrated.

Example: I wanted some upholstery work done; I gave a deposit for the materials of several thousand pesos (about half of the cost of a major job).

After that, I was given one "reason" after another why the job had not even been started. It ranges from sick mother/child, through truck problems, distributor out of my material but will have it "soon," he lost the information on the material I wanted and needed it again, etc.

Four months later, still nothing.

I know it's, IMO, and in my experience, it's a waste of time to work within "the system."

Maybe an extreme case, but maybe not, but I can understand someone, Gringo/Gringa/Mexican/Russian, etc. getting to the point of raised voice and maybe more.

I don't know, maybe there are some out there who would just walk away and take the loss, even of several thousand pesos. Are "you" one of them?

How would "you" handle it?

Clueless wrote:Forget the "entitled" and all of that. Remember, almost all people have a limit to their patience and then they get frustrated.

Example: I wanted some upholstery work done; I gave a deposit for the materials of several thousand pesos (about half of the cost of a major job).

After that, I was given one "reason" after another why the job had not even been started. It ranges from sick mother/child, through truck problems, distributor out of my material but will have it "soon," he lost the information on the material I wanted and needed it again, etc.

Four months later, still nothing.

I know it's, IMO, and in my experience, it's a waste of time to work within "the system."

Maybe an extreme case, but maybe not, but I can understand someone, Gringo/Gringa/Mexican/Russian, etc. getting to the point of raised voice and maybe more.

I don't know, maybe there are some out there who would just walk away and take the loss, even of several thousand pesos. Are "you" one of them?

How would "you" handle it?

Go in and scream a them and threaten them. Tell us how that works out for you. You could be the first with a foot up your ass.

Or if you have a receipt of the deposit made and a description of the work to be done, the materials to be used and it is all dated, maybe you could see a lawyer and let them handle it.